Just when you thought you’ve seen every alternative, muscle-engaging desk chair possible, one more enters the mix that will have you surfing through your work day.
The Level, created by former brand president for Teva Footwear Joel Heath, is technically a chair substitute. The ultra-modern, sleekly-designed balance board forces you to engage your core and move your body while you stand for phone calls or meetings.
The product’s IndieGogo crowdfunding page raised nearly $200,000 more than its original goal with weeks still to go, suggesting that people are eager to change the sedentary and unhealthy office lifestyle.
Marketed as a “tool” for your workspace, the board doesn’t just get you out of your chair, it gets you to move your hips and increases your heart rate by 15 percent, compared to merely sitting at your desk.
Using The Level is pretty straight forward. You place both feet on the wooden platform like a surfer and use your core muscles to keep the board balanced. This movement, Heath says in the above video, will give you “just enough motion to get your heart rate up a bit” and is “simple enough that you can multitask while on board.”
While the balance board makes the most sense with a standing desk, Kent Hatcher, ergonomics director at ergonomics consulting firm HumanTech Inc., told TIME.com that he thought the product, “would take a period of acclimatization to get good at using the mouse and keyboard while wobbling around.”
The company’s promo photos suggest that you can also use it during phone calls or brainstorming sessions.
We still have to wait until May to judge the product for ourselves (the IndieGogo campaign ends on March 13 and products begin shipping in the spring), but we do love the fact that these sleek, muscle-engaging boards may eclipse those bulky and distracting treadmill desks of yesteryear.
At $300 or more per board, however, we may opt for a traditional balance board — you know, like the ones you see at the gym that cost less than $20.
Sure, we’ll miss out on the sleek, wooden look, but our computer-hunched spines might not mind.